Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) will launch the newly constructed 15 lakh square feet Terminal (T-3) by March second week after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave the mandatory clearance. “We’ve got the clearance of the DGCA. The inspection by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) has also been completed. The new terminal will be commissioned in the second week of March,” said ACK Nair, airport director.
The terminal (T-3), built at a cost of Rs 1100 crore, would be the new international terminal upon its launch. The current international terminal (T-2) would be renovated at a cost of Rs 100 crore and converted into new domestic terminal, expanding its total area to 4.75 lakh square feet from the current 1.25 lakh square feet. Initially, the new terminal (T-3) could handle 12 aircraft simultaneously but upon completion of its second phase in a year, upto 20 planes can be handled at a time. It has 10 aero bridges compared to the current five besides nine visual docking guidance system.
The multi-level building is designed to meet growing demands for the next 15 years in terms of passenger footfalls. An effective crowd control system will be implemented – those flying out should use the apron and enter the terminal through the second floor while the commuters coming out should be directed through the ground floor. The terminal will have two entries and exists, one to accommodate the arrival and departure of VIPs. The new terminal has a capacity to accommodate 4000 passengers at a time during peak hour. CIAL is the fourth largest airport in the country in terms of international traffic.
